Part 8

At the beginning of the next century (1308) the Viceroy Wogan marched against the O’Tooles, but was defeated with the loss of several knights. Castle Kevin was captured and the garrison killed, while the towns near were sacked and plundered.

Later Piers de Gaveston successfully subdued the rising, and made a thanksgiving offering at the Church of St. Kevin, Glendalough. The following year he built New Castle in the O’Byrnes’ country and repaired Castle Kevin, at the same time cutting a pass through the woods, from it to Glendalough.

Thirty years later Alexander de Bickner received royal orders to repair his fortifications at Castle Kevin, so that at this time it was still connected with the See of Dublin, but it subsequently passed into royal keeping.

It appears that Henry VIII. by letters patent “made grants to Arte O’Toole and heirs the manor of Castle Kevin and the Farrtree” (hence Vartry) “on conditions they used the English habit, language, education, hostings, aidings, and the like, and that he should keep Castle Kevin in repair as a bulwark against the rebels.”

Phelim O’Toole was the representative of the family in 1591 when Hugh Roe O’Donnell escaped from one of the gate towers of Dublin Castle, where he had been confined as a hostage for over three years.

O’Toole having visited him in prison, as a friend, during this time, he naturally thought he was safe in seeking shelter at Castle Kevin.

Phelim’s loyalty was not, however, above suspicion, and he was divided between his wish to help the young fugitive and fear for his own head. In this difficulty a woman’s wit apparently solved the problem. His sister Rose, wife to the great O’Byrne of Ballinacor, was at Castle Kevin at the time, and she advised him to send a slow messenger to Dublin advising the Lord Deputy of O’Donnell’s arrival, and a fast messenger to her husband in Glenmalure (who was in a state of open rebellion), telling him to come and carry off Hugh before the Government officials arrived.

Phelim followed the advice given, but the “wine-dark” Avonmore becoming flooded the party of rescuers, at once despatched by O’Byrne, could not cross the river, and the King’s men arrived first upon the scene. Whereupon Hugh O’Donnell was escorted back to Dublin, and was confined in the Wardrobe Tower in irons, from which, however, he escaped the following year.

Captain Charles Montague, writing to the Lord Deputy in 1596, states that Feagh M’Hugh O’Byrne had threatened to besiege the castle with three hundred men, and that he had provisioned it for a month. The same year a ward was placed in it during the rebellion, while in 1599 a commander was appointed to the forts of Rathdrome, Castlekeavyn, and Wicklowe, at ten shillings a day.

No doubt the O’Tooles were implicated in the rebellion referred to, for in 1609 we find John Wakeman, who had received the confiscated estate of the O’Tooles, selling Castle Kevin back to Luke (or Feogh) O’Toole. In the deed recording the transaction it is remarked that the castle for some years past “hath been waste and in utter decay.”

An inquisition of 1636 found that the son of Arte O’Toole, to whom the lands were first granted, had gone into rebellion and died, and that his son Feogh O’Toole who represented the family at the time of the inquiry, had bought back Castle Kevin from the man to whom it had been granted after the confiscation of the O’Toole property. Castle Kevin had at this time been uncovered for thirty years, and this was deemed sufficient for forfeiture, as it had been granted on condition that it should be kept in repair.

Accordingly in July of the same year an ordinance was issued by the King taking possession. The castle and lands were then granted to Sir John Coke, Knight, Secretary of State. Dr. Alane Cooke, writing to him from Dublin in August describing his new property, says:--“Castle Kevin, the town where the castle doth stand; this hath a goodly wood, but no great timber and very fine young oaks;” and again:--“Castle Kevin is the fittest place to build the manor, because of the strength. The bawn is very good, very near 20 feet high. All the castle is down and the bounds are very nearly 50 yards square, a fine small river running at the foot of the castle.”

The grant of land consisted of 15,441 acres of all sorts, English measure, 12 miles from Dublin, with a castle called Kevin, and a fine river full of salmon and trout.

It does not appear, however, that Luke O’Toole was easily dislodged, and when Oliver Cromwell left Dublin to march to Wexford in 1649 he proved a source of constant annoyance to the troops. At this time he was encamped at Glenmalure with his four sons, one of whom managed to seize Cromwell’s favourite steed. Its owner offered £100 to Luke for its return, “but for gold or silver he would not give him back, but preferred to keep him as a monument.”

It is said that in revenge for this Cromwell ordered his cannon to level Castle Kevin. Local tradition supports this statement by pointing out a furze-covered rath from which the castle is supposed to have been shelled by Ludlow, while the blocks of adhering masonry round the foundations are unlike the crumbling of age alone.

Against this it is remarked that Castle Kevin does not appear in the list of Leinster castles reduced by Cromwell. This, however, might be accounted for from the fact that (as it appears) only a part of the castle walls were standing at the time, and that its final destruction had no strategical value, but was merely private revenge for the theft of a horse, and so was not recorded.

Luke O’Toole was afterwards captured and executed.

The land upon which the remains of the castle stand is now in the possession of the Rev. Charles Frizell, who also owns the modern manor house of Castle Kevin, some quarter of a mile distant, on a hill above the ancient building.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

D’Alton, “Archbishops of Dublin.” O’Toole, “Clan of O’Toole.” State Papers. Carew MSS. Murphy, “Cromwell in Ireland.” O’Clery, “Hugh Roe O’Donnell.” Introduction by Murphy. Gilbert, “History of the Viceroys.” Stokes, “Anglo-Norman Church.” Reeves, Pamphlet on Swords. Rev. W. Stokes, Pamphlet on Derrylossory.

_CASTLE SALEM_

Benduff, signifying the black peak or gable, was the former name of this fortress, which was built on a rock in the centre of a small valley about a mile north-west of Ross, in East Carbery, Co. Cork.

The present ruins consist of the castle and a more modern dwelling-house, which was added to the back of the fortress and communicated with it by the ancient doorway of the keep, about 12 feet from the ground, and which gave access to the first landing of the more modern staircase. The castle had three arches, the walls being 11 feet thick, and containing passages and recesses. A stone stair led to the summit, which originally was reached at about 70 feet from the ground.

When in possession of the Morris family the old covering was replaced by a slated roof, the material for which was, no doubt, procured at the neighbouring slate quarry.

The situation is so enclosed by the surrounding hills that figs grew plentifully here in former days. The pleasure grounds were at one time laid out in the Dutch style; yew, beech, and laurel grew to great perfection, and in a grove of the latter a rookery was established. The remains of a deer-park wall are still to be seen.

The fortress is generally supposed to have been erected by the O’Donovans, but it is also ascribed to the Lady Catherine Fitzgerald, daughter of Thomas, 8th Earl of Desmond, and sister-in-law to the long-lived Countess. This would place its building at the later end of the fifteenth century. There are various legends told about “the black lady” in connection with Benduff, and they may refer to the above Geraldine.

Later the castle belonged to the M’Carthys, and at the time of the Commonwealth confiscation it was in the possession of one Florence M’Carty.

The estate was granted to Major Apollo Morris, an officer in Cromwell’s army, during the seventeenth century, and upon the restoration of Charles II. he retained his lands through the interest of the King’s secretary, to whom he was related.

The grant was preserved in the castle until the middle of the nineteenth century, when Mr. William Morris sent it to a Cork bookseller for publication, and it was lost through the failure of the firm.

Major Morris was succeeded by William Morris, who was an intimate friend of the great William Penn.

On the right-hand side of the avenue is an old Quaker burial-ground, which was established by him, and to which “Friends’” funerals came from all parts of Cork. He was himself interred there, but against all the rules of the order a tomb was erected to his memory, which may still be seen, and after that the Quakers ceased to bring their dead to Benduff for interment.

The property passed from the possession of the Morris family into that of the Fitzgibbons.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

D. Donovan, “Sketches in Carbery.” Smith, “County and City of Cork.” Townsend, “Statistical Survey of the County of Cork.” Book of Survey and Distribution.

_CLOGHAN CASTLE_

This fortress is situated between the Shannon and Little Brosna River, on the banks of the latter, about three miles south of Banagher, in the King’s County. This part of the country was formerly joined to Galway.

Joyce gives the meaning of the name Cloghan as “stepping stones,” but Cooke states that the full appellation is Cloghan-na-geaorach, or “the stony place of the sheep,” Cloghan Hill being still famous for rearing these animals.

When a tennis-court was being made some years back a number of human bones and cannon shot were found, while inside the castle a hand was discovered in the wall covered by the plaster.

The castle is supposed to have been built in the reign of King John and to be one of the oldest inhabited castles in Ireland.

In 1249 we have a mention of “MacCoghlan of the castles” of which Cloghan was one, but it subsequently passed to the O’Maddens. The fortress was usually called “Cloghan O’Madden,” but on Sir William Petty’s map it is marked “Poghan.”

It was destroyed in 1548 for fear it might fall into the hands of the English, but it must have been afterwards restored, as in 1595 Sir William Russell, Lord Deputy, laid siege to it. A quaint account of the taking of the castle is given in a journal of the time which is, no doubt, accurate in the main.

It appears O’Madden was absent “in rebellion,” but he had garrisoned the castle with his chief men.

The Lord Deputy arrived on Thursday, 11th of March, and upon his approach the garrison set alight three of their houses near the castle, and opened fire on the troops, wounding two soldiers and a boy.

When surrender was demanded they replied to Captain Lea that even if every soldier was a Deputy they would hold out.

Captain Izod was detailed to see none of them escaped by the bog. Sir William visited the watch at midnight, and hearing there were women in the castle sent the garrison word that he would begin the attack next morning with fire and sword, and told them to send the women away, but they refused.

In the morning one of the soldiers threw a fire brand on the thatched roof of the castle, which set it alight, and at the same time a bonfire was lighted at the door, which smothered many of the inmates. A breach was soon made in the walls, and those who had not been suffocated were hurled over the battlements.

Forty-six persons were killed, two women and a boy being alone saved by the Deputy’s command. Most of the garrison were O’Maddens, but a Captain M’Coleghan and his two sons were also amongst the slain.

Some accounts give the number executed as 140.

The O’Madden’s territory was forfeited after the rebellion of 1641, and in 1683 Cloghan was granted to Garrett Moore, who claimed to be descended from Rory Oge O’Moore, Chief of Leix.

His almanac, or diary, was found in the castle, dated 1699. It contains entries of lead got for repairing the fortress. It also records methods of making expanding bullets and noiseless powder, as well as other strange information.

After the battle of Aughrim troops from Birr took possession of the castle, and it was garrisoned under the command of Lieutenant Archibald Armstrong.

In the middle of last century it was purchased by Dr. Graves, and is at present in the possession of his descendant, Robert Kennedy Crogan Graves, Esq.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

Donovan, “Annals of the Four Masters.” Cooke, “History of Birr.” J. Wright, “King’s County Directory.” Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.” Proceedings of Kilkenny Archæological Society.

_CROM CASTLE_

This castle is situated in the parish of Galloon, Barony of Coole, County Fermanagh. It stands on the east bank of Lough Erne, about sixteen miles from Enniskillen.

The name Crom, or Crum, signifies “sloping” or “crooked.”

The remains of the chief walls form a square of about 50 feet, which does not coincide with the measurements given in several inquisitions. Some of the stones have evidently been carried off for building purposes since the building was burnt in 1764.

The position of the castle was commanded by wooded hills, and it is built so near the shore that the waves dash against it in winter time. It seems to have had no outer ring of defences, and it is therefore even more wonderful how it should have been successfully defended in two sieges.

The marks of the cannonading are now covered by a heavy growth of ivy.

Michael Balfour, laird of Mountwhany in Fifeshire, began to erect the fortress in 1611, when granted the manor of Crum, under the plantation scheme of Ulster.

In 1616 he sold the property to Sir Stephen Butler, and in 1619 Nicholas Pynnar describes Crum as follows: “Upon this proportion there is a bawne of lime and stone, being 60 feet square, 12 feet high with two flankers. Within the bawne there is a house of lime and stone.”

The Rev. George Hill states that the castle was built by Butler and Balfour at great expense, so it is likely to have been added to after it changed hands.

In 1629 another inquisition describes it as “One bawne of stone and lime, containing 61 feet every way and 15 feet in height; and within the same is one castle, or capital messuage, built in like manner of lime and stone containing 22 feet each way.”

Crum was leased to Dr. James Spottiswood, Bishop of Clogher, in 1624.

It must for a short time after this have been possessed by the M’Manuses, who offered it for sale at £100 and 100 cows. Among the State Papers of 1646 is preserved Sir William Cole’s petition to the Commissioners to be advanced £160, so that he might become the purchaser. He promises to return the money if unsuccessful, and says it is the only hold the rebels have in the country and “a place of good strength.” The money appears to have been sent.

We find, however, in 1645, that it is mentioned in Bishop Spottiswood’s will, and through his daughter marrying Colonel Abraham Creichton the leasehold passed to that family.

It was afterwards converted into a perpetuity, subject to a small head rent, which was bought out by the Earl of Erne in 1810 from Brinsley, 4th Earl of Lanesborough, a descendant of Francis Butler.

In the struggle for the Crown between James and William, Crum was twice unsuccessfully besieged.

It was a place of considerable importance, as it commanded the waterway between Enniskillen and Belturbet.

The first attempt was made in March, 1689.

Colonel Abraham Creichton, although an old man, had fortified the castle and garrisoned it with his tenants and retainers. Lord Galmoy arrived at Belturbet with a considerable force belonging to King James’s army, but found the roads so boggy as to be impassable for cannon. He therefore decided to make some mock guns by which to frighten the garrison into submission.

They were manufactured out of tin, measured about a yard long and 8 inches in the bore. They were bound together with fine cord twisted round them, and the whole covered with a kind of buckram to represent the colour of a real cannon.

To this sham artillery sixteen horses were harnessed and they were brought to Crum with a great show of difficulty and much apparent urging of the animals.

As soon as they were within ordinary range of the fortress Lord Galmoy demanded its surrender, and upon being refused he tried to fire one of his fraudulent guns with a wooden bullet, but it burst and nearly killed the gunner.

He then began a systematic siege and sent messengers to Enniskillen to demand that garrison’s surrender too.

The governor of the town at once despatched two hundred firelocks to relieve the castle of Crum. Some were sent by water and some by land during the night, but daylight had arrived before they reached their destination.

The besiegers opposed their landing, but nevertheless they forced their way into the castle with the loss of only one boatman, while Lord Galmoy’s party lost several.

A sally was at once made from the fortress, and the besiegers were driven from their trenches with a loss of thirty or forty men, and the garrison captured the mock guns and took two suits of armour and several other valuable things.

Lord Galmoy then retreated to Belturbet.

Colonel Creichton’s son David, then a lad of eighteen, greatly distinguished himself during the conflict.

Although the castle was unprovided with cannon, great execution was done by the long fowling-pieces generally used for wild fowl on the lake.

Lord Galmoy was standing on a hill about an English mile distant from the castle, with a glass of wine in his hand, which he was about to drink to the confusion of the garrison, when a fowler from the fortress shattered the glass he was raising and killed the man beside him.

At this time a Captain MacGuire was prisoner at Crum, and Lord Galmoy proposed to Colonel Creichton to exchange Captain Dixey for him. This was agreed to, but when MacGuire was sent, Lord Galmoy, instead of returning Dixey, had him hanged with a cornet named Charleton.

Captain MacGuire was so disgusted with the treachery that he returned to Crum and threw up his commission in James’s army.

Lord Galmoy also enticed Colonel Creichton to a parley, and would have put him to death, too, had not Lord Mountcashel rescued the old man and conducted him safely back to his castle.

The following year Crum was again besieged, and Colonel Creichton sent an urgent message to Enniskillen to say that the besiegers had brought cannon with them. The next day he sent another message saying that Lieutenant-General MacCarthy had begun to batter the fortress.

This was Monday, and Colonel Wolseley returned answer that they should be relieved on Wednesday, and in the meantime he despatched orders for reinforcements to Ballyshannon.

A strong detachment set out, therefore, from Enniskillen to the castle’s relief, but upon their approach the enemy withdrew to Newtownbutler, where a great engagement was fought that shattered the cause of James II. in the north of Ireland. The garrison of Crum Castle greatly distinguished themselves in this engagement.

The David Creichton, who was eighteen at the time of the siege, finally succeeded his nephew in the estate. He left an only son, who was created Lord Erne, and it was in his lifetime that the castle was burnt.

A letter from Lord Shannon, dated September 1, 1764, is still in the family’s possession, in which he condoles with his kinsman for the destruction of his castle. “Unhappy indeed to be consumed by a few accidental sparks of fire when it had so bravely withstood the firing of 6,000 men so many years ago.”

To the south of the fortress along the side of the lake lay the castle gardens, in the centre of which still grows a magnificent yew-tree, under which tradition records an O’Neill and his lady-love parted in the reign of Oueen Elizabeth upon the former being attainted for high treason.

Henry, however, writing in 1739, says it was only planted about seventy years previously. It is 25 feet in height, while the trunk is 12 feet in girth. The circumference of the branches is 120 feet.

It was the custom for many years for sportsmen on the lake to fire a salute when passing the ruined fortress, which produced a most wonderful echo, as if the shot had been answered by a volley.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

The Earl of Erne, “Crom Castle” in _Ulster Journal of Archæology_. King, “Henry’s Upper Lough Erne in 1739.” Latimer, “Actions of the Enniskillen Men.” Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.” State Papers. Proceedings of Royal Society of Antiquaries.

_DOE CASTLE_

This fortress is situated at the extremity of a small Donegal bay called Sheephaven, in the Barony of Kilmacrenan, about a mile east of Creeslough. It was the chief stronghold of the MacSweenys, and derives its name from MacSweeny Doe or MacSweeny “of the districts.”

The castle is built on a projecting rock, surrounded by the waters of the inlet upon the north, east, and south, while on the west its entrance was guarded by drawbridge and portcullis, as well as a fosse filled with sea-water.

A modern house is attached to the old fortress, which has a rectangular tower, and a circular donjon used as a dairy in modern times.

M’Parland, writing in 1802, in his statistical survey, records that the castle was fortified with a strong tower by the grandfather of the then MacSweeny of Dunfanaghy.

There seems to be no record of the erection of the fortress, and different authorities ascribe its building to various persons. Manus Oge says Doe was erected by Nachton O’Donnell for one of his seven sons at the same time that the castles of Burt, Inch, and Ramelton were built, while M’Parland accredits a lady named Quinn with its erection, who married a M’Swine, shortly before Elizabeth came to the throne.

Dr. Allman believes it dates from about the beginning of Henry VIII.’s reign, and tradition states that Doe passed to the MacSweenys in the fifteenth century, when a peace was concluded between O’Neill and O’Donnell in 1440.

Red Hugh O’Donnell lived at Doe Castle with his foster father, Owen Oge MacSweeny, and it was while in his care that he was kidnapped at Rathmullen by Sir John Perrott in 1588.

Sir Hugh MacSwine na Oge, surnamed the Red, was one of Queen Elizabeth’s chief favourites, and a polished courtier. Very different, however, was the last of the MacSwines who occupied Doe Castle. This was Sir Miles MacSweeny of the Club, who was knighted by Oueen Elizabeth, and about whom tales of great brutality are recorded.

He was called “of the club” from his bludgeoning the better classes of his clan to death with his own hand if they offended him, while the poorer ones he consigned to a retainer called Furey and his satellites to hang from the castle walls.

A legend is told of how his beautiful daughter, Eileen, fell in love with Turlogh Oge, son of The O’Boyle, against her father’s wish. The lovers used to meet on the beach and in the woods near the castle. Her father discovered their trysts and confined her to the fortress under the care of a worthy matron. The young people were thus reduced to signalling to each other--the maiden from the battlements, and her lover from his canoe in the bay. This became known to The MacSweeny, and with two boats of armed men he waylaid the young man and a few retainers on their way back from Lackagh, and brought them prisoners to the castle.

Here he starved them to death, and as the bodies were being carried to the graveyard the fair Eileen saw and recognised her lover. She never recovered the shock and grief, and not long afterwards she was found dead on the top of one of the castle towers.